LOS ANGELES, Oct. 2 -- Search crews high in the Sierra Nevada mountains have found wreckage of the small plane that belonged to adventure pilot Steve Fossett, who vanished 13 months ago after taking off alone from a Nevada airstrip, a local official in California said Thursday morning.

Madera County Sheriff John Anderson confirmed that a ground crew had reached a crash site near Mammoth Lakes -- spotted from the air just hours before -- and confirmed the wreckage was Fossett's plane.

The National Transportation Safety Board said in an earlier statement that it had dispatched investigators to the site.

apparently the guy found $1000 and fossett's pilot license randomly while hiking... talk about lucky. shame fossett's luck ran out though- now he's a guy to admire! just goes to show, don't fly through thunderstorms in a small plane....